Former baseball great Roger Clemens is calling the death of country star Mindy McCready “sad news.”

Clemens, now a special instructor with the Houston Astros, handed reporters a written statement Monday at the team’s spring training camp in Kissimmee, Fla. It says he’d heard “she was trying to get peace and direction in her life.” He said McCready and her manager/agent were “extremely nice” the “few times” he saw her.

Whatever happened between McCready and Clemens, he’s right: this is a sad story.

Reader Comments and Retorts

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Condolences to Ms. McCredy's family and friends. I'm not too familiar with her career but it may be that the career problems led to the personal problems. She hit it big very young. But pop music is a fickle business and last year's star can become this year's also-ran. Without the right type of people around her, she may have had difficulty dealing with that. I'm not dissing her manager as he might have done everything right and still couldn't stop her from getting into substance abuse.

As a friend elsewhere noted, another "star" of "Celebrity Rehab" dies. Perhaps rehab shouldn't be a reality show.

The NY Daily News had a dumb headline yesterday, "Is Celebrity Rehab Cursed?" in the wake of the McCready suicide. 5 of the 40 celebrity participants have died.

First, this isn't a random sampling of the population -- they are people who come to the show with major problems and issues. So the question really to be asking is, "Does Dr. Drew Suck At His Job?" But I don't think we can conclude that without more information because of point 1.

Second, not all of the deaths have been suicides. Some have been OD's, etc.

But I suppose it is kind of problematic for him that five of his participants have died. It's probably better to ask whether the show overall helps or hurts these people.

But I suppose it is kind of problematic for him that five of his participants have died. It's probably better to ask whether the show overall helps or hurts these people.

Generally speaking, anyone claiming to address deep seated emotional and chemical dependency issues by broadcasting rehab to millions is a grifter and snake-oil salesman who needs to be nut punched repeatedly until dead.

Agreed as well. If he stays silent, he gets asked a question in an unsympathetic manner as he's walking off the spring training back fields or something. Then the big complaint is that he was heartless and didn't say something earlier. The written notice is about the best option of many bad options here.

Celebrity Rehab is something that Dr. Drew, the network that airs it, and the sponsors should be ashamed of. I'm sure they lean back on some pious pablum about reaching out to people in the audience who need help and provide role models for them but that's pure bologna. It's pretty much profiting from other people's misery while self-administering some masturbatory backslappys is all.

Are the rehab participants paid for their appearance on the show? If so, doubly or even triply disgusting.

If he indeed did have a personal relationship with McCready--and I don't know if he did, there seems to be a dispute about that--then this is a completely inadequate response.

There's dispute about whether they had a sexual relationship but no dispute--and photographic evidence--of them spending time together when she was a teenager. I don't blame Clemens for not admitting the sex--his statement at the time was about "mistakes"--since 1) it ain't our business, 2) it's foolish to admit to what could be a felony depending upon the state and 3) it's extra-humiliating to his wife. "The few times," though seems totally out of line, though.

She didn't want her dog to be alone. I know that sounds idiotic, but it's the only thing that makes any sense to me.

Well, she has a 10 month old child she left behind too.

Endorsement here about what has been said about Drew Pinsky. What a scumbag. He completely violates his Hippocratic oath and Dr./patient relationship by exploiting troubled persons who have severe emotional problems. Considering the 12.5% mortality rate of his practice, somebody ought to sue that ############'s ass.

Endorsement here about what has been said about Drew Pinsky. What a scumbag. He completely violates his Hippocratic oath and Dr./patient relationship by exploiting troubled persons who have severe emotional problems.

Heh, last night on ME TV, I saw a Newhart where the group session was shown on the local PBS station. Bob refuses request, group hears about it, convinces Bob to go ahead, group clams up on TV, Bob babbles for a disastrous hour. Bob Newhart, world's greatest villian!

If he indeed did have a personal relationship with McCready--and I don't know if he did, there seems to be a dispute about that--then this is a completely inadequate response.

I agree with this. His response is terrible. Handing out a prepared response is fine -- he's going to get asked about and having a typed up response is better than rambling incoherently for a few minutes or saying no comment. But his comment that "the few times that I had met her and her manager/agent they were extremely nice" is amazingly self-serving. So you only met her a few times, and her manager/agent was present? I guess that clears things up.

Just say "she was an amazing person and this is a terrible tragedy." How hard is that?

I don't blame Clemens for not admitting the sex--his statement at the time was about "mistakes"--

Clemens specifically denied the sex - at least, he denied that any sex occurred when she was 15. His statement was something like "Now people are saying I had a relationship with a fifteen year old girl. Nothing could be further from the truth."

since 1) it ain't our business, 2) it's foolish to admit to what could be a felony depending upon the state and 3) it's extra-humiliating to his wife. "The few times," though seems totally out of line, though.

I agree that the "few times" isn't a strong enough statement, and is very misleading, since it appears that even if they didn't sleep together when she was 15, there was a continual relationship there.

McCready's public statements at the time were kind of odd too. She was interviewed on the air and said something like "I can't refute anything in the story," rather than simply "The story is true."

McCready, who was in New York on March 16-17 for an appearance on "The View," met Clemens in 1991 when she was a 15-year-old singing karoke in a Ft. Myers, Fla,. bar. At the time, Clemens was already a bonafide Red Sox ace and a married father of two boys. The two spent the night together after that first meeting, but McCready has said she and Clemens did not have sex until years later, when she was older.

The relationship with McCready paints a very different picture of Clemens than the one drawn by Jose Canseco in his book "Juiced," where he went out of his way to say that Clemens was one of very few professional ballplayers who was faithful to his wife.

"Now, I have been accused of having an improper relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Nothing could be further from the truth," Clemens said in the statement. "This relationship has been twisted and distorted far beyond reality."